Environmental Tips for Small Businesses
By Adam
April 22, 2013
Small Business & Entrepreneurship
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By Stefanie Neyland, Bizlaunch.com
Now more than ever, businesses are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact their actions may be having on the environment; and with public interest in sustainability mounting, small businesses in particular should be considering how to make their green efforts stand out in the marketplace.
From recycling office supplies to reducing your energy consumption, there are many ways to leave your green stamp on the business world. But what do you do once you’ve implemented all the eco basics? Here are seven fresh ideas to set you in the right direction.
Caffeine compost
Believe it or not, ground coffee beans actually make a fantastic fertilizer. Take the used grounds from your office coffee maker home to fertilize your garden or add to a compost heap – you’ll be surprised at what might grow from your joe!
Shredded packaging
Sometimes there’s no better feeling than finally getting rid of those accumulating stacks of papers by running them through a shredder. But have you ever considered putting them to good use again once they’re in their shredded state? Shred old envelopes, junk mail and documents and use the remainders as eco-friendly packaging for clients.
Embrace cloud-based computing
Utilizing cloud-based software could have a positive impact on the environment by helping to reduce the information technology industry’s enormous carbon footprint. Not only will you be saving yourself a trip to the store or time spent waiting for software to be delivered, but you’ll also be saving the environment by cutting back on CD’s and the packaging they come in.
Meeting documents
Do you have an important meeting planned with various materials to be passed around to your clients? Store that PowerPoint, report or brochure on a USB device and save some trees. The client can then decide whether it’s necessary to print out the documents or not, and the device can be reused again and again.
Recycle your cell
Companies that recycle your old phones and batteries are cropping up all the time, so why not get rid of those antiquated phones lying around and recycle them instead? That old cell may end up being refurbished and sent off to a developing country for someone else to use.
PDF brochures
We’ve all seen it – once-tidy desks now littered with brochures, catalogues and flyers. But what if you were to reduce prints costs and wastage by distributing all those company materials electronically? You’ll be reducing paper usage and your overheads at the same time, and sending the document is as easy as the click of a button.
Monitor your actions
Record and monitor just how much power, energy, paper, water, ink and toner your company goes through and use this as a base line moving forward. By doing this, you’ll be able to implement a reduce, recycle and reuse eco strategy and there’ll be some clear data to measure your efforts against.
Now more than ever, businesses are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact their actions may be having on the environment; and with public interest in sustainability mounting, small businesses in particular should be considering how to make their green efforts stand out in the marketplace.
From recycling office supplies to reducing your energy consumption, there are many ways to leave your green stamp on the business world. But what do you do once you’ve implemented all the eco basics? Here are seven fresh ideas to set you in the right direction.
Caffeine compost
Believe it or not, ground coffee beans actually make a fantastic fertilizer. Take the used grounds from your office coffee maker home to fertilize your garden or add to a compost heap – you’ll be surprised at what might grow from your joe!
Shredded packaging
Sometimes there’s no better feeling than finally getting rid of those accumulating stacks of papers by running them through a shredder. But have you ever considered putting them to good use again once they’re in their shredded state? Shred old envelopes, junk mail and documents and use the remainders as eco-friendly packaging for clients.
Embrace cloud-based computing
Utilizing cloud-based software could have a positive impact on the environment by helping to reduce the information technology industry’s enormous carbon footprint. Not only will you be saving yourself a trip to the store or time spent waiting for software to be delivered, but you’ll also be saving the environment by cutting back on CD’s and the packaging they come in.
Meeting documents
Do you have an important meeting planned with various materials to be passed around to your clients? Store that PowerPoint, report or brochure on a USB device and save some trees. The client can then decide whether it’s necessary to print out the documents or not, and the device can be reused again and again.
Recycle your cell
Companies that recycle your old phones and batteries are cropping up all the time, so why not get rid of those antiquated phones lying around and recycle them instead? That old cell may end up being refurbished and sent off to a developing country for someone else to use.
PDF brochures
We’ve all seen it – once-tidy desks now littered with brochures, catalogues and flyers. But what if you were to reduce prints costs and wastage by distributing all those company materials electronically? You’ll be reducing paper usage and your overheads at the same time, and sending the document is as easy as the click of a button.
Monitor your actions
Record and monitor just how much power, energy, paper, water, ink and toner your company goes through and use this as a base line moving forward. By doing this, you’ll be able to implement a reduce, recycle and reuse eco strategy and there’ll be some clear data to measure your efforts against.